Donna's Room
by WhenTheQuestionIsAsked
Summary: The Doctor, Amy, and Rory must track down Donna Who is currently traveling with his last regeneration and bring her aboard the TARDIS to open the most important door in the universe: the door to her old bedroom.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Believing

"Doctor," Amy whispered in his ear. "Why are we here?"

The Doctor did not answer but continued to observe the crowd of people in the market.

Rory swatted at a fly buzzing around his head.

"Doctor," he said rather loudly and impatiently. "Why are we here?"

The only acknowledgement the Doctor gave was an off-handed _hush_ as his eyes scanned the people below them. It was hot and Amy who was in shorts and a blue tank top was sweating profusely and get antsy about waiting any longer. Her husband gave her an exasperated look. When Amy said nothing, but instead just shrugged, Rory spoke again.

"We have been out here for an hour and a half." He said hotly. "It is hellishly hot here—_wherever we are_ —since you refuse to tell us, and—"

"Doctor!" A feminine voice called from somewhere in the crowd.

Amy and Rory looked at each other and then at the Doctor, who was watching the square more urgently now, his eyes scanning back and forth faster than seemed humanly possible. And then they stopped.

He stepped out of the little bit of shade they had managed to find and started pushing through shoppers. Amy and Rory followed without a word or pretense as he weaved his way through the crowd. His eyes were fixed on one of the people: a violently red haired woman in a light blue dress that hugged her curves nicely. She seemed to be looking for someone.

"Doctor?" she called, but her cry was lost amongst the patrons of the various shops and carts and voices.

Amy caught with the Doctor. "Why don't you go to her?"

"She's not looking for me." he said, his eyes still not straying from the woman just seven feet away from them.

"But she's calling for you?" she looked muddled.

"What, you think there isn't more than one person called Doctor, eh?"

"Well, yes, but she seems to be looking for you and not Dr. Seuss."

"I met him once, lovely man, kept asking if I liked green eggs and ham. Yes I am the Doctor she is looking for."

"Then why don't you go to her?" Amy asked impatiently.

"Because I'm not the one she's looking for."

"But you just said—" Rory panted from behind them.

"Different Doctor, same man." He tipped his a bit as if in consideration. "Same Doctor, different man."

Rory and Amy gave each other looks as they continued after the Doctor. The woman turned left and into a shaded alley way between an apothecary and a shady looking book store. The Doctor and his companions followed hastily.

The alley was empty. Completely empty, besides three tall rubbish bins and what looked like the remains of a small dog, or perhaps, a large rat.

The Doctor gave a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "We lost her. This was our last chance and we lost—"

With what sounded like a battle cry, the red haired woman jumped out from behind the tallest rubbish bin, brandishing what looked like the skeleton of a badly bent umbrella, and began to hit the Doctor with it.

"Teach you—" _Smack._ _Ow!_ "To follow—" _Smack. Ow!_ "Me around!" _Smack. OUCH!_

Rory and Amy rushed forward to pull the Doctor out of the mad woman's range. The Doctor rubbed his head, looking at Donna with a hurt face.

"Why would you do that?" he asked angry and confused, wincing as he hit a particularly sore spot.

"Why were you following me?"

She swiped the umbrella at them and the Doctor clumsily fell to the ground at Amy and Rory's feet. He put to hands up in the air in surrender.

"Donna," he said, trying to sound calm. "Please, I need—"

With a look of rage, Donna started throwing bits of rubbish at him from the bins. "How do you know my name?"

"Donna, it's me!" the Doctor hollered, shielding himself with his arm and an old newspaper advertising dodo birds for sale in West Windle. He blocked an apple core. "The Doctor!"

Donna froze, a large boomerang shaped bone in her hand, ready to fire. "What?"

"Donna," the Doctor said slowly as he got to his feet, his eyes watching her cautiously. "Donna, it's me."

Her face softened as she looked him up and down. The Doctor smiled, nodding, and then quickly ducked as the bone caming flying toward him. He heard Rory say ow.

"You think I was going to fall for that?" she asked him, laughing at him. "Not very bright are you?"

"Donna, please, just listen to me for a moment." He said hotly. "I am the future Doctor, not the one you are traveling with right now."

"Well you got work done then. If you are him." she said haughtily.

He sighed. "There's something that the current Doctor and you haven't talked about yet; it's called regeneration. When I get hurt or I am on the verge of dying, my body heals itself, recreating me in the process. All Time Lords could do it."

Donna's face gave a twitch when he had said Time Lords. He smiled; he was getting to her.

"Donna," he asked carefully. "What do I have to do to convince you that I'm me?"

She stood a bit straighter. "How did we first meet?"

"You just appeared on my TARDIS, out of nowhere," he smiled. "In your wedding dress, attitude just shining off of you. You were angry; you were supposed to be getting married. But you never did marry the leech, did you? No I believe he died the same night as the Rachnoss."

Her lips twitched as if she was fighting off a smile. "And then I started traveling with you."

"Yes—no!" he said quickly. "We met again, nearly a year later. Adipose were running amuck in London. We sorted that out then you traveled with me."

Donna was clearly torn now, wanting to believe this strange man with the bow tie. "Umm…what did I do to shock you when you were poisoned?"

The Doctor grinned boyishly. "You kissed me."

Donna looked shocked. She looked to the others, as if just noticing they were there. She gawked at Amy.

"Are you my daughter?"

"No." Amy said firmly. "Just a fellow ginger."

"And Scottish."

"And Scottish." Amy confirmed.

Donna looked back at the Doctor, not unsure—She had never been unsure—but not completely comfortable looking.

"Sorry 'bout the rubbish ammo."

The Doctor smiled. He pointed to Amy and Rory. "These are my current companions: Amy and Rory Pond."

By habit Amy and the Doctor looked at Rory, waiting for him to correct the Doctor. But he just shrugged and the Doctor looked back to Donna.

She looked a little…still. "Current…companions?"

The Doctor didn't say anything.

But Amy stepped forward and shook Donna's hand. "Hullo."

"Hi." Donna kept looking at the Doctor. "I don't suppose you're here just to tell me about the regurgitation thing, are you?"

"Regeneration." The Doctor said. "And no. It's much bigger than that. It's much, much bigger and much more dangerous."

Donna was unfazed. "What's that?"

"I need you to open a door."


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it took so long for me to update, you know what it's like. But expect a new Merlin story sometime soon . Anyways, so thanks and please leave review, it's what keeps me writing. That and coffee. If you have any questions or comments just let me know. Thanks!**

**-L**

Chapter Two: Last Chances

"Oh. My. God." Donna's mouth had formed an 'O' shape ever since they had stepped into the TARDIS nearly five minutes ago. She looked at the Doctor in annoyed way. "A pool? You have a pool now?"

The Doctor smiled boyishly. "Yup. And there's a library in it."

"Why don't we have a pool now?" she asked.

"I didn't know, we could have one." He said defensively.

"Maybe you should have checked the manual." She gave a look of mock surprise. "Oh, that's right, you threw it into a black hole!"

Amy laughed. "Do you ever read the manuals Doctor?"

"No." he said. "They lie."

Donna look startled. "Wait, won't _my_ Doctor be wondering where I am?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nope. I'm buying a train ticket for Midnight. And I think you are perusing the TARDIS's database for spa hot spots." He smiled. "When we catch up, I will point out that there is, in fact, one on Midnight."

"Lovely." Donna said with a firm nod and turned back around to look in the pool again. "The hot tub is bigger than my room!"

Amy slid up next to the Doctor. "Doctor, not that I'm not sure you know what you're doing, but isn't it a little dangerous to have her here? Like time line-wise?"

The Doctor said nothing.

"You're scared." Amy said suddenly. "Whoever this woman is, she's important to you."

The Doctor closed his eyes and thought back to just three hours earlier:

"Doctor, we've been here before…"Amy said, looking around the dark room, dim room. "With Idris—I mean the TARDIS—I mean—"

"Yes, Rory, we've been here before." The Doctor said, looking around the remnants of his old control room. It was colder for some reason and even though he knew he was still in the TARDIS, he felt as if he was somewhere…foreign. He nearly shuddered. He looked about the room as the memories found themselves making their way to the surface of his mind. He smiled as he thought of Rose, dancing along to the loudly playing stereo in her pajamas near the stairs as she sang, rather badly: "Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!". And the smile just got bigger as he saw Martha come jumping down the stairs, passing the fading Rose, she was carrying a book about the French Revolution and opening it to a random page, saying "Let's go here next." And then Donna, her fingers tapping on the consul irritably as Martha faded behind her. "Come on Space Man, we've got places to be."

"Doctor?" Amy pushed him a bit. "Amy to the Doctor; are you there?"

"Right, sorry, this way." He led them up the stairs and into the old corridors. He turned left twice and then stopped at a purple door with two gold letters centered in the middle: D.N.

"D. N.?" Amy said. "What does D.N. stand for?"

"Donna Noble." The Doctor said and ran his thumb over the dusty metal.

"Who's Donna Noble?" Rory asked.

"Who _was_ Donna Noble, you mean?" the Doctor asked as he tried to twist the door knob, which didn't budge. He frowned as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the door.

"Who was she?"

"She's an old mate of mine." The screwdriver buzzed but the door knob did nothing.

"Wait, you asked me to use past tense, but you just used present…" Rory said, confused.

"Correct." _Bzzzz._

"Why?"

"Do penguins have knees?"

"I…" he decided it was best to just not respond and silently told himself to just never ask the Doctor a question again since it was impossible to get a straight answer.

A few moments of _bzzz_ing later, Rory asked "Why isn't the door opening? Is the sonic broken?"

The Doctor looked at him like an upset child pouting. "No, it just isn't…working."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Which means it's broken."

"No." he said quickly as he tried the door knob again. "It's just taking a break."

A cold voice echoed down the hallway. "Protocol 4 activated."

A hologram appeared before them of a red haired woman in a brown leather jacket and a purple shirt. She was grinning like she had a secret and her hands were on her hips.

"Guess what Spaceman?" the woman said smartly. "You're not the only one who can lock people out of rooms."

The Doctor heard the others laugh a bit as his mouth opened slightly in confusion.

The woman nodded. "Come on, I know you can remember, if you think hard enough."

The Doctor nearly slapped his head as the memory of him (in his last regeneration) telling Donna not to go into any of the rooms that weren't open, because there were private and he tended to keep dangerous things in them so he had locked them to everyone who didn't share his DNA. She had taken rather personally.

"Have you got it yet?" she asked but didn't wait for an answer. "Well, doesn't matter, I 'spose. I've locked my door to _protect my privacy_. Sound familiar? Anyways, so it took me a few days of you popping out or disappearing for me to figure out how to do one of these messages but," she smiled brightly. "I _am_ the best temp in Chiswick."

The Doctor shook his head slightly as he remembered how often she had said that.

"This message will appear if you try to open my door." She was grinning. "Maybe if you ask nicely I will take the little gizmo out of the lock. Maybe."

There was a male voice in the background. "Donna, where are you?"

The Doctor felt his eyes widen as he recognized his voice. His _other _voice.

Donna looked flustered but wriggled her fingers at him in a small wave. "See 'ya later Spaceman."

The hologram vanished.

"_That _was Donna Noble?" Amy asked laughing. "She seems like she probably drove you mad."

The Doctor said nothing as he looked at the bedroom door again, his face sinking.

He turned on his heels and they followed him out of the old part of the TARDIS and back to the main control room which was humming away happily and glowing. He looked at the monitor and started pushing in dates and times and places.

"Where are we going?" Amy asked but a second later she and Rory were on the floor as the TARDIS blasted off into the Time Vortex.

"Doctor," Rory said as he helped his wife up off the floor when they landed. "Where are we?"

He told them to get changed into something slightly cooler and ran out of the TARDIS. Five minutes later they met him a few feet away from the TARDIS under the shade of a building, next to a café. He was scanning the crowd.

_We're a little early,_ he thought. _It's safer I suppose. Now we wait._

The Doctor came back to the present as Donna started down the stairs to the underbelly of the controls.

"This mess wasn't here before." She sniffed.

"Donna-" he began.

"What's this do?" she pulled on wire.

"Donna-"

"Hey did you ever figure out what was going on with all the bees?" she turned to him. "Remember, they were disappearing?"

"Donna stop." he put his fingers on her lips.

She raised her eyebrows and he quickly took them away.

"Remember why you're here, don't you?" he asked.

"Something about a door."

"Yes, Donna, your door."

She looked at him expectantly. "What about it?"

"I can't open it."

She slowly started grinning until she looked like she was going to explode with laughter.

"You don't feel so posh now do 'ya?"

"No, I don't. You win." He said calmly. "But I need you to open it now."

She looked suspicious. "Why?"

"Because there is something in it that I need."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Remember…about two weeks ago for you…we went to the tornado planet?"

"Yeah, I'm still covered in bruises." She rubbed her head dramatically. "Thanks for that."

"Yes well, remember the device we found, the one that was causing the twisters?"

She nodded. "Whatya call it…the something-anator?"

"Yes, well…" he looked away from her. "I couldn't put it in the weapons room because the active electrons in it would react with different devices in there and cause a mass explosion…so I put it in your room until it could…cool off."

"You put that _thing _in my room!" he hollered. "It could have killed me!"

"I was going to take it out after it calmed a bit and you wouldn't even have known!"

"Why didn't you!"

"I...I was busy!"

"You forgot about it!"

He pushed a hand through his hair. "Yes, I forgot about it. I was busy and I forgot about it, sorry!"

"You better be sorry!"

"I am!"

They stood there, fuming, as Rory and Amy watched from the stairs.

"And another thing," Donna said suddenly, her voice raising on each word. "Why are you so young?"

"What?" his voice matched hers.

"You look younger!"

"And?"

"And it's just weird!"

"Sorry about that as well!" He said.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Silence again.

Rory cleared his voice. "Doctor…the door?"

The Doctor looked at him and then back at Donna, who didn't look angry anymore, but…unreadable. She nodded and pushed past him.

Once all of them were up the stairs again, she looked around.

"Where's my room?"

"It's in the old part of the TARDIS."

"The old…okay, can we go there?"

Without a word, they all followed the Doctor through the maze of corridors again. When they came to the darkened control room, Donna stopped and looked around. The Doctor wondered if she was remembering.

Her face was shadowed. She ran her hand along the consul slowly and then came to a rest on the thruster. "Do you miss this place?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yes."

She said nothing, but he thought he saw her nod.

"I think I can lead us from here." Donna said after a minute, her voice monotone, a first for the Doctor. He followed her up the stairs, Amy and Rory behind him.

She stopped in front of her door a minute later. She put her hand on the door knob, but she didn't turn it.

"Donna?" the Doctor was standing beside her. "Is it stuck?"

She turned and looked at him, her eyes wide and her face pale. "How does it happen? I mean does it hurt?"

"What are you talking about?"

"When I die!" she screamed. "Does it hurt? Is it fast? Or is it, like, slow?

He froze. "What?"

"That's the only way I would leave you…you know that right?"

The Doctor smiled a bit.

"Or did you leave me?" her voice was shaky. "Was it like with Martha…did I just decide it was time—no I would never have done that. Was it like Rose? Was I just taken from you? Or…was it like River? Did you save me like River?"

"River?" Amy piped up. "You've met River?"

Donna wiped a tear away. "Yes, nearly a week ago."

Amy looked at the Doctor. "What does she mean you saved her?"

"Donna, I swear to you, that you are going to be just fine." He ignored her.

Donna shook her head. "But why—_how_ do I leave? I don't understand, I was going to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Donna," he hugged her and she sobbed into his chest. "Oh, Donna…I know you can't understand. You won't when you go either, and neither will I. But Donna," he looked at her and wiped a tear from her cheek. "It's for the best."

Donna shook her head and buried her face in his shoulder again. He hadn't seen her cry this hard since Pompeii.

"Donna," he smiled. "I was at your wedding."

She pulled back and wiped another tear away. "What?"

"You get married."

"Really?"

He smiled. "Yes."

"To who?"

"I think his name is Shawn…Temple. Yeah Shawn Temple." He smiled again as she stopped crying, her face shinning.

"Where do I meet him? When do I meet him? No, no, no, _when _do I meet him?"

"I don't know…I never actually got around to getting introduced. But he's from your time."

Donna laughed and wiped the last of the tears away from her face. "You never know when you're a time traveler." She looked at Amy and Rory. "Sorry, I went off like that. You say you know River Song?"

"She's our daughter." Rory said.

Donna looked at the Doctor, her face filled with disbelief. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

She looked back at the couple. "Wow."

"Yup." Rory said.

Amy nodded, her face a sheet of rueful bliss. "Yup."

She frowned. "So that was the big secret?"

"No, she's also my wife."

Donna gave a snort. "You owe me ten quid."

After a few moments of awkward silence, Donna turned back to the door and slowly opened it. The door's click sounded deafening. Donna stepped back without looking in the room and waved him in. The Doctor watched her face as he walked into the chilly room. He didn't hesitate as he used the sonic screwdriver to remove a panel off the wall. He reached in and pulled out a small gray cube. He stuck it into his jacket pocket, put the panel back on, and stepped back out, closing the door behind him. Donna started walking away down the corridor and back to the darkened control room.

The Doctor could sense it, the change between them. He was her past. And she wasn't going to be his future. They were not the same people they were an hour ago. Or even five minutes ago for that matter. The Doctor knew that for Donna, after she returned to the _other _him, she would still feel it somewhere, but he would know for the rest of his life what he knew now: they weren't going to be together ever again. He didn't know how he had just realized this, after all this time, after all these years but it was almost as if he had been denying it. In just a short time, Donna would be leaving him, in different ways, and that would be the end of it. The end of the Doctor and Donna.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Amy whispered as they followed Donna.

He took Amy's hand, smiling, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "No."

She said nothing else but squeezed his hand back.

It was a silent trip after that back to the new control room. Donna knew what was coming, they all did, but she just didn't know the details. She never would.

"Donna," The Doctor said quietly. "It's time to say goodbye."

"Did we get to last time?" she asked, her hand resting on the consul, her face away from him. "Or was it like Rose?"

"No, we didn't really get the chance. We got less of a chance than I did with Rose, really."

She turned and looked at him with a sad smile, her eyes shining. "Good-bye Doctor."

The Doctor hugged her again. "Good-bye Donna. The wonderful Doctor Donna."

She laughed through the tears. "What does that even mean?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Donna's face fell.

"It's all gonna change now isn't?" she said. "Now that I know what I know?"

The Doctor put his hands on either side of her face, smiling sadly, and leaned down and kissed her forehead. He closed his eyes as he rested his forehead against hers. "No, it's not."

He could feel her frown. "But—ahhh!"

Donna's body went limp and the Doctor lowered to the ground slowly. His head hurt from the mind-wipe and the rest of his body hurt from the pain of losing his best mate once again.

He stood up, wiped away the few stray tears that escaped the corner of eyes and turned to the others. Amy was leaning against Rory, her eyes wet, and Rory gave a nod of… understanding? Or maybe it was just sympathy. The Doctor walked past them and started up the TARDIS once again.

He didn't leave the breaks on the trip was easy, the room hardly shook.

"Rory, will you help me?" he asked. Rory helped the Doctor carry the unconscious Donna Noble out of the TARDIS. They were in the same alley they had been when they had landed earlier. The market people still surged around them, hardly noticing them.

"Sit her here." The Doctor and Rory sat her in a chair in a café right next to the alley. The Doctor lied her head down gently on her folded arms on the table. He kissed her hair and he and Rory hurried back to the alleyway.

"We need to wait for the other me to come and get her."

"What will he—_you _think?" Amy asked.

But before the Doctor could answer, a tall spikey-haired man in a duster and trainers walked up to the café, smiling as he shook his head.

"Donna?" they heard him say. He shook her gently. "Donna, it's time to go."

Donna slowly opened her eyes. She looked confused for a moment but smiled. "I hate the heat; always makes me so tired."

"Well, where we are going, you can rest all you want." He said as she stood up and pushed her chair in. "We're going to a planet with a universally renowned spa."

She gave him a suspicious look. "What's the catch?"

"No catch, but I'm telling you," they were walking away now. "There's this train…"

The rest of the words were lost among the throngs of people. The Doctor gave a nod and walked back to the TARDIS. Amy and Rory followed suit.

Once they were in the police box the Doctor sat the twister cube on the consul and began to insert a date into the monitor.

"Why did we need the cube Doctor?" Amy asked.

He didn't look at them. "We didn't."

"Then why—?" Rory stopped. "You just wanted to say goodbye, didn't you?"

The Doctor said nothing. "You know where I haven't taken you yet? Barcelona. Not the country but the planet. They've got…they've got dogs with no noses."

Donna was hot and sweaty. How could she have possibly fallen asleep at that café? How did she even get there? She shook the thought out of her mind. She removed her dress and put on her black robe as she got ready for her shower. Her room felt good, nice and cool, always the perfect temperature. As she was walking to the bathroom she stopped as the feeling of déjà vu washed over her. She turned and looked at a panel on the wall. She wasn't sure why she reached out and touched it. Or why she felt the sting of tears in the corner of her eyes. Or why she couldn't help but smile even though she felt very sad. She shook her head and continued to the bathroom. As she was turning the water on, in the back of her mind, she heard an unfamiliar voice say three words. And she couldn't help the words that came out of her mouth next:

"I miss you too."


End file.
